Tips on how to thaw, prep, and cook your pastured Thanksgiving turkey.

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November 13, 2024

So, you have a beautiful PASTURE-RAISED CORN & SOY FREE TURKEY in your freezer. Now what? Here are some tips for thawing, prepping, and cooking your whole Thanksgiving turkey.

When do I need to thaw my turkey?

This is very important. There's nothing worse than getting ready to cook your turkey just to realize that it's still frozen!

When you need to thaw your turkey will depend on how big your turkey is and which thawing method you choose. Here are the details:

Slow thaw in the refrigerator. You’ll need about 24 hours per 4-5 pounds of turkey. So, for a 11-13lb bird, plan for 2-3 days in the fridge to thaw.

Quick thaw in cold water. Put the turkey in a sink of cold water. Change the water every 30 minutes, and plan for about 30 minutes per pound. So, for a 11-13lb bird, plan for a 5-7 hour thaw time.

TIP: Always keep a turkey cold when thawing. Once your turkey is thawed, it will last 1-2 days in the fridge. Timing is everything!

To brine or not to brine?

Whether or not to brine your turkey is a personal choice. If you choose to slow roast (more details on that below), the meat will be nice and tender, brine or no brine. If you choose a regular roast, then a brine will add some extra tenderness and extra juiciness and is recommended.

There are two main types of brining. Here are instructions for both:

Wet brine a turkey. For a super juicy bird.

Mix salt and water together until dissolved in a bowl or pot big enough for the turkey. The weight of the salt should be 5% of the total weight of the solution. That’s 1-¼ oz of salt per quart of water.

Infuse it with spices if you’d like. Think bay leaves, peppercorn, anise, rosemary, garlic, orange zest, chilis, brown sugar, molasses, etc. Add the ingredients of your choosing to the salt water solution, heat to a boil, and then cool.

Add the turkey to the brine. Keep it cold and let it soak for 8-18 hours. Then, remove from the brine, rinse with cold water, pat dry, and then cook.

Dry brine a turkey. For a tender bird with crispy skin. Easier than a wet brine.

Start with a thawed or partially thawed bird. Pat dry and rub generously with salt. If you want to infuse some extra flavor, consider mixing some herbs and spices with the salt.

Refrigerate uncovered (or loosely covered) for 1 hour per pound. So, for a 12 pound bird, plan for 12 hours in the fridge.

No need to rinse. The salt should dissolve while the brining magic happens.

Should I stuff my turkey?

Stuffing a turkey is optional. However, serving stuffing with your turkey is definitely recommended!

A word of warning. To cook stuffing inside the bird to the right temperature, you may end up with overcooked meat. This is why I prefer to make the stuffing separately. On the other hand, the flavor you get with stuffing cooked in a turkey is exceptional. A tough Thanksgiving choice for sure!

Instead of stuffing with stuffing, consider adding a little flavor here by stuffing your turkey with chopped onions, garlic, celery, apples, oranges, or lemons.

What should I season my turkey with? How do I prep it for cooking?

For golden brown, crispy skin, I recommend coating your turkey with fat first.

Use about ½ cup of butter, ghee, sunflower oil, or your favorite cooking fat. Rub or brush it all over the outside of the bird. Be generous!

Then, for added flavor, I recommend seasoning your bird inside and out before cooking.

If you did NOT brine the turkey, rub salt, herbs, and spices of your choosing all over the outside and interior cavity.

If you brined the turkey, no salt is needed at this point. Just rub in herbs and spices.

Traditional herbs and spices that go great with Thanksgiving turkey are parsley, thyme, rosemary, onion powder, garlic powder, and paprika. Or, put a tropical twist on your bird with some lime zest, cumin, and coriander!

Then, you can truss the turkey. This is optional but does encourage even cooking.

Tuck the wing tips behind the bird’s shoulders. Tie the ankle together with kitchen twine of unflavored dental floss.

Will I do a regular roast or slow roast?

There are many ways to cook a turkey. Miller's recommends a low and slow cooking method. This will give the juiciest bird with the most collagen broken down into health-enhancing collagen. No matter whether you choose a slow or regular roast, the instructions are the same for cooking:

Let it rest. Always let your turkey rest at room temperature for about an hour before cooking. While it’s resting, preheat your oven to 350F.

Put it in the oven. Place turkey breast side up in a roasting rack. Loosely cover with a lid or aluminum foil.

Halfway through baking, remove the lid/foil. This will make for crispy skin.

Baste every 30-60 minutes (optional). Don’t let those pan drippings go to waste!

Slow Roasting Cooking Temp & Times: Preheat the oven to 350F. Turn down the heat to 250F when the turkey goes in the oven. Cook at 250F for 30-45 minutes per pound. So, a 12lb bird would take 6 hours to cook.

Regular Roasting Cooking Temp & Times: Preheat the oven to 350F. Cook at 350F for 13 minutes per pound. So, a 12lb bird would take 2.5-3 hours to cook.

You know your turkey is done when a thermometer reads 165F in the thickest part of the bird.

When should I put my turkey in the oven?

Timing is everything! I mean, the worst case Thanksgiving scenario is that everything is ready for dinner, but the turkey still is not cooked. Here's how to know when to put your turkey in:

Decide what time you want to eat.
Find out the weight of your bird.
Choose whether you'll do a slow or regular roast.
Calculate how much time will be needed using the "Cooking Temp & Times" guidelines above. Add an extra 30-60 minutes just to be safe.
Subtract the time needed from the time you want to eat. Then, you'll know when to put the turkey in the oven!

Enjoy your Thanksgiving turkey!

Are you ready for Thanksgiving? What are your favorite Thanksgiving tradition(s) or dish(es)?

I’d love to hear from you. Join the conversation below (no account requireed) or contact us.

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Hidden ingredient in pure maple syrup? Yup, a defoamer! Ours is PUFA free.

I know you've seen it advertised everywhere - "PURE MAPLE SYRUP". But, is it really and truly pure? Not exactly. Why is maple syrup is advertised as "pure" anyway? Well, it's because it's being compared to the Aunt Jemima kind of syrup, which doesn't even have maple syrup in it! It's fake maple syrup made with corn syrup with colors, flavors, thickeners, and preservatives. It mimics maple syrup, but it's definitely not maple syrup. So... for companies that are selling actual maple syrup (you know, the kind that's cooked down from the sweet sap from a maple tree), they like to differentiate their syrup from fake syrups. They do this by calling it "pure". I've even seen it as "100% pure". But, that's not really true either. The dictionary definition of "pure" is "not mixed or adulterated with any other substance or material." Well, in order to make real maple syrup, you kinda need to do just that. Enter defoamers... Here's how maple syrup is made, including when defoamer is used. First, you harvest the sap from the trees. This happens at a specific time of year. In early spring, as the weather starts to warm up, the sap starts flowing. Here are the lines that run through the maple forest in Vermont that our syrup comes from: Then, the sap (which tastes like sweet water), is pumped into a big stainless steel tank: After that, it goes into another big stainless steel pot in the sugar shack (yup, that's what an old fashioned place that makes maple syrup is called). And then, the heat is turned on. Our maple syrup is cooked over a wood stove! As the maple sap cooks down, it bubbles. Like a lot. To prevent the pot from overflowing with maple lava, not only making a mess but also creating a dangerous situation, syrup makers use a little defoamer. A defoamer is a fat that breaks the surface tension on the bubbles. Only a little bit is needed. *There are all kinds of defoamers, natural and absolutely not natural. But first, let's finish making the syrup. Keep scrolling to learn more about defoamers. Here's what those bubbles look like as a defoamer is added: When the bubbles are smaller and the syrup has cooked down to the perfect thickness and specific gravity, it's done! It's drained into another stainless steel pot. Final thickness and color testing is done before it's bottled. The Virkler family is serious about color distinctions. They always keep some super dark and super light syrup around to make it just right. Why is maple syrup different shades anyway? It's a natural thing! It has to do with the changes in the sugars within the sap as the season changes. As the temperature warms up, naturally occurring bacteria become active and break down the sugar into glucose and fructose. These simpler sugars caramelize more easily during boiling, making a darker syrup. That's why lighter syrup is generally made at the beginning of the season when it's colder. But, just like the weather, the color varies throughout the maple syrup season. The Virkler family documents this every year. In the pic below, the first sap of the season is in the bottom left. And then every harvest after that goes to the right and then up to the next row. Pretty neat! And voila! That's how maple syrup is made! What's in a defoamer? A defoamer is a fat. It disrupts surface tension, breaking those syrupy bubbles down, because it contains non-polar molecules that are attracted to water. Conventional Defoamers Conventional defoamers are a blend of who knows what kind of cheap oils. They can be mineral oils, silicone oils, vegetable oils (canola, soy, olive, etc), or other hydrophobic oils. Some contain up to 10% silicone. Did you know "pure" maple syrup can have that in it!? Conventional defoamers are a lab and factory made thing. And you know what that means - the actual ingredients are proprietary. That's 100% allowed, especially since the defoamer ingredients don't need to be listed on the label. It's less than 1% and considered a trace ingredient. Natural Defoamers More natural defoamers are straight oils. For example, our old maple syrup used sunflower oil. I've seen other maple syrup makers use canola oil. But, the most common defoaming oils are seed oils, and that means PUFAs. Natural No PUFA Defoamers In an effort to reduce PUFAs whenever possible, we have a new no PUFA maple syrup! Virkler Farm & Forest uses organic coconut oil as their defoamer. We're so proud to offer it to you! *It's important to note that a really tiny amount of defoamer is used. Whatever is left in the final syrup is a trace amount. But, as I say again and again, if there's a trace amount of something bad in everything you eat, is it a trace amount anymore? So, what should you look for in a natural maple syrup? For the most natural maple syrup, you can look for a few things: From a pristine forest, free of chemicals.No added colors, flavors, thickeners, or preservatives.Boiled with wood to prevent any unnatural fumes from contaminating the syrup.A natural defoamer is used.Bottled in glass. This is particularly important with maple syrup since it's typically bottled hot/warm. Our maple syrup checks all those boxes! Do you use maple syrup? Did you know about defoamers? What's important to you when choose natural foods? I'd love to hear from you. Comment below or send us a message. ----- PS: Did you know that the maple syrup we sell is also used in a bunch of our products? That includes our ice cream, egg custard, maple sausages, chocolate and strawberry syrups, and more!

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Raw milk has been a highly contested issue in modern history. Is it a healthy nutrient-dense “cure-all” for nourishing your body, or is it a dangerous vector for spreading life-threatening disease? The two camps are split. It is a complicated issue with mixed battles of bad science vs. personal testimony, morals vs. politics, education vs. advertising, and big agri-business vs. small farms. Let's dive in...

Warning: Fat Holds Toxins. Carnivore and keto folks should watch out.

Aaron, myself, and a couple other team members went to Tennessee to participate in Meatstock 2025 last weekend. It's a carnivore/keto party in the Smoky Mountains. Boy, we learned a lot and met a lot of wonderful people, both people who healed through food as well as doctors and experts that help people heal. One person we had the pleasure of meeting was the amazing Dr. Kiltz. He's a carnivore. He's also a doctor who specializes in fertility. And can you guess how he helps many of his patients? Yup, through food. He's a big supporter of the carnivore and keto diets. He suggests getting 70-80% of your calories from fat, 15-30% from protein, and 0-10% from carbs. Dr. Kiltz spoke at a dinner we attended. And something he said shocked us -- "Don't worry about grass fed, regenerative, and all that natural stuff. It's the fact that you're eating fat that matters." 😳 Woah woah woah. Hold up a sec. We, of course, had a conversation with Dr. Kiltz about this. I mean, why are people having health issues in the first place? Sure, some of it could be genetics. Some of it's definitely environmental. But, a lot of it is likely the food we're eating. It's processed food laden with seed oils and carbs and sugar and yucky additives... but also the farming practices that result in toxic stuff hidden in plain old ingredients. Dr. Kiltz agreed and elaborated on his statement. What he's saying is that, if you're eating a standard American diet, the biggest and fastest impact you can make comes from altering your diet on a macro level - fat, protein, and carbs. But the granular stuff you can't see or count matters too, especially once you're making progress. OK, I get it. But then I thought some more... Toxins accumulate in the fat. So, if you eat animal-based foods (especially the fattier ones) and are looking to limit (or eliminate) that awful toxic stuff, farming practices matter. Like a lot! So, unsurprisingly, I went into research mode. 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Then, once the problem happens, it's hard to pinpoint the cause. And then, healing time is often lengthy (and sometimes the damage can't completely be undone). When it comes to toxins, the response really depends on the body. The list of issues that can arise is exhaustive. They include fatigue, headaches, digestive problems and leaky gut, brain fog, anxiety and depression, increased risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, hormone imbalance, mast cell overreaction, histamine responses, bloating and inflammation, trouble sleeping, skin conditions, liver damage, obesity, and more. Where can toxins in animal-based foods come from? When it comes to farming, there are few places that toxins can be introduced to animals. This can be from toxins resistant to breaking down from decades ago or toxins being used or produced today. This can be on the actual farms or in the facilities that prepare food for sale: Air: Toxins can vaporize and float in the air. Animals can breathe it in or it can settle on top of soil or water. Water: This is especially true with city water, which often has chemicals added to it or may run through old pipes. But, as we all know, water pollution varies from area to area.Soil: This can come from the local area or a non-farming activity that happened on the land previously. This can also be from past farming practices or current ones. Slaughter and butchering: Did you know an antimicrobial is required by the USDA when processing meat? Processors can choose harsh chemicals like bleach or opt for more natural ones like citric or lactic acids or vinegar.Recipes: Think beef jerky or lunchmeat. They have ingredients. First off, anything that's less than 1% doesn't need to be listed on the package. And then, of course, there's the hidden stuff depending on the quality of the ingredient.Packaging: Even what our food comes in can leach chemicals into our food. I mean, think about microplastics in bottled water! When toxins enter your food, you can't see them. You can't taste them. You can't smell them. This is why knowing more about how your food is produced is important. How can farming practices decrease the levels of toxins? Well, there are bunch of ways toxins can get into food from farming. Here are some ways that farms can decrease toxins in the final food: Choose A Clean Location: If a farm is located right next to or downstream from a factory or city, toxin levels will likely increase. Farms should ideally be far from cities or factories. Have Clean Water: If contamination is persistent in your area, you'll likely know it. And, you can always test the water, too.Improve Soil Health With Regenerative Farming: When soil is dead and unhealthy, toxins break down at their normal speed. But, with regenerative farming that creates robust microbiology, toxins can break down faster.Fertilize Naturally: There are plenty of chemical fertilizers out there. But, compost and manure from natural chemical-free sources are just as good… if not better.Limit, Eliminate, Be Considerate With Pesticide And Herbicide Use: A grand majority of farms still use pesticides and herbicides regularly. Yeesh. Even the organic ones can contain yucky stuff. With things like fruit, it's kinda necessary to some extent. But, especially with pasture raised animals, they're simply not needed (even though some farms still choose it).Choose Naturally Formulated Feed: This is the idea of the ingredients in the ingredients. You can have the most pristine land, air, and water, raising beef. But, if you feed them GMO corn sprayed with glyphosate and grown in contaminated soil... well... those toxins are introduced. Farms can make sure they're feed ingredients are pure and the sources the ingredients come from are chemical-free.Eliminate Vaccines: Yup, vaccines contain toxins. And especially when injected, they can harbor themselves in fat. Aluminum is a common ingredient in vaccines. And, did you know that animal vaccines can contain Thimerosal (AKA mercury)? That's been banned in human vaccines. When animals are raised outdoors and to be naturally happy and healthy, vaccines aren't necessary.Be Mindful With Anyone Who Processes Your Food: This can be a challenge, especially if you're in an area with more conventional farms. Farms can ask the hard questions and ask for changes like what antimicrobials are used (apple cider vinegar is allowed by the USDA), what the ingredients are, and where the ingredients are sourced from. At Miller's Bio Farm, we try to reduce your toxic intake as much as possible. Here's a few notable things we do (among the many): All of our small farms are 60+ miles from any major city.Our pastures are never sprayed with pesticides or herbicides. We love the biodiversity!Our pastures are fertilized with manure and more manure!Our farms that raise our animals regenerate their soil year after year. The idea is to improve the quality of the soil, and that includes the microbes that can help break down toxins.Clean well water is used for the animals to drink and for processing our meat and all of our products. Our beef, pork, and lamb are washed with organic apple cider vinegar. Our chicken is air chilled. Our turkey is washed with water and only water.None of our animals are fed corn or soy. And, our feed is chemical-free.Our farmers do not vaccinate their animals. Our chicken and turkey and lamb is 100% vaccine free. The only way a vaccine could be given to a cow or pig is if the animal was bought in and previously vaccinated. We make sure that no animal has received an mRNA vaccine. None of our products have yucky stuff like nitrates/nitrites, additives, fillers, etc. It's simple natural food. We always vet our processors before working with them to make sure they're up to our natural standards. We'd love to supply you with clean foods and hope you join the movement! Do you eat a lot of fat? Whether you do or not, what toxins make you most worried? I'd love to hear from you. Comment below or contact us 😊 ----- References: Carnivore Diet Macros and How to Achieve ThemAdipose Tissue as a Site of Toxin Accumulation Pesticide residues in animal-derived food: Current state and perspectives Impact of pesticide exposure on adipose tissue development and function10 Powerful Nutrients Found Only in Meat

Tips on how to thaw, prep, and cook your pastured Thanksgiving turkey.

When do I need to thaw my turkey?

To brine or not to brine?

Should I stuff my turkey?

What should I season my turkey with? How do I prep it for cooking?

Will I do a regular roast or slow roast?

When should I put my turkey in the oven?

Enjoy your Thanksgiving turkey!

More from the blog

Hidden ingredient in pure maple syrup? Yup, a defoamer! Ours is PUFA free.

Here's the untold story of raw milk. Raw or pasteurized? It should be your choice.

Warning: Fat Holds Toxins. Carnivore and keto folks should watch out.

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